Biden faces brutal backlash for ‘poor taste’ jokes while visiting Maui wildfires site: ‘Comic relief tour’
President Biden is facing brutal backlash for a quip about a Maui cadaver dog that went viral just hours into his disastrous visit to the site of the deadly wildfires — with critics blasting his ill-timed attempts at comic relief as “poor taste.”
“You guys catch the boots out here? That’s a hot ground, man,” Biden, 80, joked while petting a cadaver dog, Dexter, and chatting with first responders in Lahaina in a video shared by self-proclaimed “news breaker” Greg Price on Monday evening.
The president, who owns two German shepherds, turned to the media and gestured at the small boots covering Dexter’s paws.
Last week, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green noted that recovery efforts in the worst-hit areas took time in part because the search dogs could only work for about 15 minutes at a time before their paws overheated.
Biden’s comment elicited smiles and laughs from the crowd, but quickly drew ire on social media, where the president is already catching heat for apparently making light of the devastating blazes after initially refusing to comment on the disaster for several days.
“Bro is sightseeing and trying to be comic relief for the tour. No sense of what has happened there at all,” wrote a “homeschool dad” whose bio on X (formerly Twitter) describes himself as a MAGA conservative.
Another account blasted the hot ground remark as “poor taste,” while a third chimed in that the octogenarian reminded them of Mr. Burns from “The Simpsons.”
The Republican National Committee accused Biden of being “distracted” by the dog.
One user posted a graphic of the popular far-right rallying cry “F–k Joe Biden,” to which another replied, “As a Lahaina resident, I second that.”
The historic enclave of Lahaina was razed in the August 8 wildfires that killed at least 114 people and left over 800 still missing.
What we know about the Maui wildfires
At least 114 people have died in the Maui wildfires that started last Tuesday.
The wildfires, fanned by strong winds, burned multiple buildings, forced evacuations and caused power outages in several communities.
The National Weather Service said Hurricane Dora was partly to blame for the strong winds that knocked out power as night came. About 13,000 residents in Maui were without power, according to reports.
People rushed into the ocean to escape the smoke and flames fanned by Hurricane Dora.
Fire crews battled multiple fires in the popular tourist destination of West Maui and an inland mountainous region. Firefighters struggled to reach some areas that were cut off by downed trees and power lines.
Also on Monday, Biden faced criticism for telling a room full of displaced Lahaina residents that he and first lady Dr. Jill Biden “have a little sense” of their grief and trauma due to a small kitchen fire at their Wilmington home almost 20 years ago.
“I almost lost my wife, my ’67 Corvette and my cat,” he told the audience.
Biden has told several variations of the kitchen blaze story over the years.
On Monday, he described a dramatic scene in which first responders “ran into flames to save my wife and save my family. Not a joke.”
At the time of the incident, however, the local fire chief said the fire was “under control in 20 minutes.”
When Biden touched down in Maui earlier in the day, his motorcade was met with chants of “Go home, Joe!” from angry locals with signs that read “No Comment” in reference to the commander-in-chief repeatedly declining to comment on the August 8 disaster.
A couple of protesters also waved 2024 campaign flags for Donald Trump.
“Any number of military aircraft, planes, and helicopters could have flown in here. To leave a town that was just devastated and shut down was just ridiculous. The runway wasn’t cratered,” western Maui resident Dennis Mullan, 58, told The Post of the federal government’s perceived lack of attention to the wildfire recovery.
Follow the latest NYP coverage of the deadly Maui wildfires
- Number of missing after Maui fires increases to 1,100 as crews recover ‘crumbling’ bodies
- Biden faces brutal backlash for ‘poor taste’ jokes while visiting Maui wildfires site: ‘Comic relief tour’
- Ground Zero veteran among three NYPD cops on the ground in Maui: ‘People came to help us … now we’re coming out to help them’
- Top emergency officials were on another island learning how to respond to disasters when Maui wildfires started
Biden was also slammed for getting the full executive treatment — including an official podium and a small table for his water bottle — during his brief remarks after landing.
Members of the president’s team were unimpressed by the backlash.
“He’s petting one of the dogs that’s working hard searching for remains so survivors who’ve lost loved ones can have closure,” White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates tweeted of the response to Biden’s interaction with Dexter.
“This criticism is classless and stupid,” he opined.
The Maui wildfires are the nation’s worst in over 100 years. As of Tuesday, many of the dead are feared to be children who were home after severe weather postponed the start date for local schools.
